This invention relates to managing transfers of information in communications networks such as the World Wide Web.
One aspect of the invention relates to managing queries for new or changed items of network-based information. Many services provide standing queries over streams of information such as news wires, e-mail, bulletin boards, and stock quotations. These services are sometimes called “information filters,” “continuous queries,” or “clipping services.” News Edge and Compuserve are two examples of such services.
Another aspect of the invention relates to using proxy servers to implement security protocols on behalf of network tools and to manage sets of authentication credentials for users. Existing corporate networks often include a gatekeeper or proxy or fire-wall server that provides a single point of entry and exit from the corporate network to the rest of the world. The network browsers on the corporate network create network requests, and the proxy server forwards them to servers on the Internet. The proxy intercepts all traffic to and from each browser, and ensures that only a very restricted set of traffic and people can access the corporate network from the outside.
Another aspect of the invention relates to inducing advertisers to target advertisements to consumers for whom the advertisements are likely to be of interest. On the Internet it is presently possible for advertisers to do direct advertising to individual consumers by broadcasting “junk mail” that appears in user e-mail and network bulletin boards.
Another aspect of the invention relates to extracting data from sources of network-based information on a communications network. Object embedding tools are known such as OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) and OpenDoc that are used to build compound documents. These tools contain a link to an object that the tool embeds within a compound document such as a word-processor document or a spreadsheet. If the object changes, the compound document changes accordingly.